Lessons from the First Passover (Background)

Lessons from the First Passover

March / April 2000John H. Ogwyn (1949-2005)

The events of the last two and a half centuries had been incredible. It all began about 1704BC when the 17-year-old son of Jacob and Rachel had been sold into slavery by his older brothers. Motivated by resentment and jealousy, they sold Joseph to Midianite slave traders who transported him to Egypt. Over the courseof the next 20 years, events took an astounding turn. Young Joseph rose frombeing a slave to being the number two ruler of Egypt, right under Pharaoh himself.

The Pharaoh under whom Joseph achieved such prominence was from the newly arrived Hyksos dynasty. The Hyksos were Semites, a similar people to the family ofJacob. When a famine gripped all of the surrounding countries, Joseph’s brotherswent to Egypt to buy grain and came face to face with the brother whom they believed was probably dead. By 1682BC, Jacob and his entire family of about 70people came into Egypt. The Hyksos rulers, also known as the Shepherd Kings, showed Jacob’s family of Hebrew shepherds great favor and provided them with land in Goshen, near the delta, to live and to raise their flocks.

For the next century or so things went very well for the family of Jacob. Their numbers multiplied and they were treated well. Just over 40 years after Joseph’s death in 1611BC, the Hyksos were overthrown and expelled from Egypt by Dynasty XVIII of Thebes. The incoming ruler, Amose, is described as a Pharaoh “who knew not Joseph.” He began systematically to oppress the burgeoning Israelite nation. By the time of Moses’ birth, 44 years after the Hyksos expulsion,Israel had been reduced to the status of slaves. In fact, for a period of time, Pharaoh even sought to have all of the Israelite boy babies killed at birth in order to slowdown their rapid population growth.

It was in this context that his parents, to protect him from death, hid the baby Moses. Pharaoh’s daughter, Hatshepsut, discovered him in a basket in the edge ofthe Nile. Reared as a Prince of Egypt in the court of Thutmose I and Thutmose II, Moses achieved prominence. All the while, the condition of the people of Israel worsened further.

By the age of 40, Moses had made a decision to reject his Egyptian identity and to acknowledge his kinship with the people of God. Forced to flee Egypt, he remained in the Sinai desert for the next 40 years, most of that time watching the sheep of his father-in-law, Jethro. At the age of 80, the LORD manifested Himself to Moses through a burning bush, and sent him back to Egypt to begin his real life’s work.

When Moses arrived back in Egypt, Thutmose III, who had sought his life, was deadand Amenhotep II was on the throne. The people of Israel had been ground down through several generations of slavery and had lost all hope. It was in this context, with a people who were in despair on the one hand, and an Egyptian ruler filled with pride on the other, that Moses was expected to accomplish a great work.

The subsequent events, which marked the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian slavery and their journey toward Sinai to enter into a special covenant relationship with God, are the events of the first Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread. These festivals, introduced when Israel was still in Egypt, mark the introduction of God’s great plan of redemption and salvation. Contained in the circumstances surrounding the first Passover observance by Israel are many lessons for the people of God today.